Does what I do as an RN have much of an impact with what I want to do as an FNP?

I will have 1 year experience in critical care this August. I graduated from nursing school May of 08 and plan to attend FNP school in Sept. As of right now I am borderline miserable at my job. I hate cleaning up poop, constantly dealing with death,sputum,dementia pts, being tripled, ect. ect. I have always been interested in L&D and Mother Baby. So I am thinking of shadowing and maybe transfering to L&D or MBU. My only question is once I am done with FNP school and apply to jobs, does what I did as an RN determine where I work as an FNP? I am considering Women's Health, or Family Practice but once in school I may want to do something else. As of right now ICU allows my see a whole range of diseases and patients but I am not happy there so will it look bad if I only have 1 years experience in ICU and then do L&D which is highly specialized? :typing

No, one does not dictate the other. What your experience as an RN will do is give you background on which to draw from, it helps with knowledge of medications, how they are used, possible side effects. Pay attention to symptoms and what the diagnosis is, learn all you can from your experience as an RN
When you go to FNP school, you are the one giving the orders for an RN or LPN to follow, you figure out the diagnosis and treatment plan.
Good luck!

May 20, '09

Once you get experience as an RN you know how to treat the patient most of the time example low K+ level, GI bleed, but you have to call and get orders prior to doing it, as a NP as Gater said, you will be giving the orders. Being an RN for 27yrs, definitely has helped me with critical thinking and how to treat my patients

May 20, '09

With the one year of ICU and then doing L&D do you think that will look ok on my resume. I am also thinking of ding PACU. But L&D is where my heart is, but PACU sounds interesting too. What about the clinicals you do and a FNO student?

May 21, '09

I am a FNP. My clinical experience was in a family practice, rural setting, then a family/internal medicine practice. I arranged the clinical for the fam/internal practice. However, some of the other students went to the health department, did alot of women's health, paps, STD treatment.
Think about a clinical rotation in an ob/gyn office and see if you might like that setting after graduation. If you would like to deliver the babies, do a mid-wife program.
The nice thing about being a FNP is that you can get exposure to many settings and then decide where you want to work. We are more marketable than an ANP since we can see everyone.
I think your experience in ICU and L&D would look fine on your resume. I would not change your employment department now since you will be entering school in a few months and you will not be able to work many hours. The FNP program is difficult, alot of studying, keep your job simple with an area you are familiar with already.

May 23, '09

I agree with what Gator said. I am an FNP also, and am working in Internal Medicine which is so much different then my clinical settings when I was in clinical. I would also try to do a hospital rotation just to see the difference. I think in the clinic the focus is on preventive medicine where as in Internal medicine you're dealing with the right now problem and trying to get the patient out of the hospital. I still want to work in a clinic to get my full FNP experience. This is good for a start to get used to different diagnosis and test.